CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
PORTLAND, OREGON
TEAM CHEVY ALL CHEVY FRONT ROW WITH QUOTES AND TRANSCRIPTS
AUGUST 24, 2024
SANTINO FERRUCCI SCORES FIRST CAREER NTT P1 AWARD FOR THE BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
WILL POWER QUALIFIES SECOND TO LOCK FRONT ROW FOR CHEVROLET
Santino Ferrucci put his No. 14 Phoenix Investors AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet on pole for the BiTNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland with a lap of 58.2046 seconds
It is Ferrucci’s career-first NTT P1 Award, and the first pole for AJ Foyt Racing since Detroit, 2014
Will Power qualified second to lock-in an all-Chevy power front row behind the wheel of his familiar No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet with a lap of 58.3120 seconds
The schedule on Saturday will conclude with a final 30-minute practice at 5:15 PM PT. All practice and qualifying sessions broadcast with Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 218. Sunday’s race will be live of USA and Peacock starting at noon PT, 3:00 PM ET.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 PHOENIX INVESTORS AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER:
How special is this moment?
“I mean, this is definitely one of the greatest days of my career. In qualifying, too, it’s so tight. This series is so incredible talented. To be doing this today is such a feat for us and the team, and shows how hard we’ve been working. I can’t thank everybody enough for believing in me.
“Man, I think it’s no secret how hard we’ve been working this year, how hard I’ve been working, Larry (Foyt), our entire staff. I mean, my first career pole in an INDYCAR and I’m not known for being the best qualifier and today, we just felt it. We unrolled off the trailer amazing. It’s been a year of hard work and progression. We’ve showed some real speed at certain times and it feels great to put it together, man. I can’t just thank this entire team enough, Sexton Properties, Phoenix Investors, everybody that’s involved, Chevrolet. We brought it.”
Starting on pole, how do you keep it up front in the race tomorrow?
“We’ve been so good in race craft, that’s actually the least of my worries. The racing’s so good for us. We’ve been struggling everywhere else on the weekend, so to knock this out of the park, I’m excited.”
You’ve been strong on ovals in past, but to get this first career pole on a road course, how does that feel to you?
“Everything. I’ve got some more bargaining power for next year. I mean, I love it. What Larry (Foyt) and I have been building at this team, I’m so proud of him, so proud of what we have accomplished, and I just can’t wait for the future. I think this is a glimpse of what we’ve got. This is the last road course of the year, and, trust me, I want to get on that podium so bad, stand on that top step, and a road course would be a way to make it happen.”
LARRY FOYT, AJ FOYT RACING TEAM PRESIDENT:
“It’s just awesome. I mean, the trajectory where we’ve been headed as a team, it’s just been great. We’ve added so many great people to our group. Santino (Ferrucci) is just getting better all of the time. This is just a testament to everything we’re doing. Thanks to affiliation with Penske. Certainly, a huge help. Those guys are awesome, but our guys just really delivered today and Santino drove the wheels off. It’ll be good to call dad. It’ll be a fun call for a change. I hope the Sextons are watching and the Phoenix livery is beautiful this weekend. It’s great, just great.”
We know what one half of the team is going to look like from the driver perspective with David Malukas. What does this do to help solidify Santino’s position in the team?
“He’s done a super job this year. Can’t say enough about how he’s helped elevate the team. It’s just really good. I hope he can enjoy this. It’s really great for the morale of the whole group.”
What have been some key moments along the way with this team whether it’s key personnel, milestones, etc.?
“You get a good group together, everybody pulling in the same direction, and that’s what it really takes. INDYCAR is so tight. You can be up one weekend and down there next. If you’ve got a group that really likes working together and putting in the extra effort, that’s just what we’ve been doing. From guys like Michael Cannon joining the team to the Penske affiliation, Chevy power, everything just comes to this. It feels great.”
MICHAEL CANNON, AJ FOYT RACING TECHNICAL DIRECTOR:
“I’m just so blessed to work with so many really good drivers, really great drivers, a lot more great drivers and these great engineers. This has been a 19-month project getting here and I can’t thank Larry (Foyt) enough for giving me this opportunity to build a racing team, Roger Penske and his group, Ron and all the guys there with all of the help they’ve been giving us, it’s made a world of difference. We’ve turned this team completely around from tail end Charlie to pole. This is magnificent.”
Many on the team were here when you showed up to help with this resurgence. Celebrating this moment, what does that mean to you?
“Everything. It means everything. I hope AJ (Foyt) is watching. I hope he’s proud of us. It was what I was hired to do. A lot of us came in here given a blank slate, not necessarily a blank check but a blank slate. To pull this off is remarkable. It’s one of the best days of my 42 years of racing that I can remember. Just truly remarkable, so proud of (this crew), and I’m so glad I could do this for Larry and AJ (Foyt).”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON BUSINESS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED SECOND:
“I made one mistake in turn 12. I dropped the wheel off which lost me a bit over a tenth, so (Santino Ferrucci)’s lap was very, very good. He did a great job. All stoked to get through the Fast Six. I really wanted pole because it helps so much not getting caught up in that first corner. But, it’s great to be on the front row with somewhat of a teammate. Obviously, with Santino, we share information some, so we can start about the start. Ultimately, just have to keep finishing ahead of (Alex) Palou. He’s right there. Obviously, I can be a bit more aggressive than he can on the start. I have less to lose than he does, so we’ll just focus on trying to win the race.”
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
Santino Ferrucci
Larry Foyt
Will Power
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Santino Ferrucci for AJ Foyt Racing with his first career NTT P1 award.
Santino, congratulations. Tell us about this. What are the emotion months like?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, it’s pretty awesome. It’s my first career pole in the series. To come on a road course like Portland where it’s so tight, it’s so competitive. It just felt great.
That lap felt amazing. We rolled off the trailer really good coming here. We knew we had a strong car. So it’s really nice to put everything together for myself and for the team.
Yeah, super stoked as well. New sponsor on the car this weekend, Phoenix Investors. They were all down there in the pits with us when it happened, so it was a blast.
THE MODERATOR: You were already P1, but pushing towards the end. The unknown is what you’re fearful of. You weren’t backing down at the end at all, were you?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: No, definitely not. It’s always about who crosses the line last year. I’ve watched enough Fast Sixes to know that. We field for three laps, so I was going to use them all, regardless if we ran out or not.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Larry, could you talk about what this means for the organization.
LARRY FOYT: Well, it’s huge. I think you can just see how happy everybody is because a couple years ago it was a struggle. We’ve just kept building this team, kept adding better people. It’s led to all this.
Having some consistency with Santino, man, everyone is just really happy. This whole year, even fighting for a top 10 in the championship was a huge step up. The qualifying pace, don’t say you’re not a good qualifier, can’t say that (smiling).
We have such a good group working together from the engineering, mechanics, and a hell of a driver. So it feels great.
Q. How much does the Penske alliance put you in this position today?
LARRY FOYT: It’s great. They’ve been super to work with. I’ve learned a lot. So can’t thank them enough for everything that they’ve done to help us achieve that, get to where we’re headed. Awesome organization to be with.
Q. Santino, you said this gives you some bargaining power for next year. Are you going to get a contract out of Larry by the end of the day? What’s your situation?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: When is warm-up? How long do we have (laughter)?
No, it’s good. I don’t think it’s any secret that I very much found a home here with Larry and AJ Foyt. I want to stay. That’s kind of in the cards here. Obviously there’s a lot that needs to happen, still a pretty big off-season.
Getting pole today definitely doesn’t hurt (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: AJ Foyt’s first P1 award since Belle Isle in 2014. This has to feel good, Larry.
LARRY FOYT: Yeah, I was in my 30s (smiling). It does feel great. We had a good car from when we unloaded. Santino said the car was really good. We thought we had a shot at top six, but we really didn’t think the pole. Just a hell of a lap he put in there.
Q. You felt this was a place you could target for a strong result. What about this track, permanent road course package, made for this? Did you feel like a pole was possible or did this take you a little by surprise today?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: I said Portland would be a good one for us just based off of how we did at Barber and Laguna. We kind of understood why we were so quick there in the race. It was just putting it together here in Portland. Obviously they’re three totally different tracks.
When we unloaded on Friday, we knew we had a really good car. Then it was fine-tuning it really into today. I kind of figured we’d be able to get into the top 12. The Fast Six I knew was going to be really difficult.
The new tire runs for us we’re not super sparkly. The second tire runs is where I kind of knew we had something. So in my head, when Larry told me we had advanced into the Fast Six, I knew that if I just stayed calm and hit my marks, we could really be a threat to contend for a pole.
I didn’t think we would get it, but I thought we would at least be on the front row. I’m beyond thrilled to lead the field to green tomorrow.
THE MODERATOR: Larry, any chance you’ve heard from the boss yet?
LARRY FOYT: No. I’m going to go give him a call right now and give Marlene Sexton from Sexton properties a call. None of this would be possible without them. This will be a fun call (smiling).
Q. When the Fast Six starts, we see everybody pile out onto the track. You stayed in your pit stall for quite a few minutes. Was it just a matter of that’s the way you wanted to do it to build a gap or did it have more to do with the heat cycle on the reds?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: There were a couple of strategy things involved. I think I’ll say a lot has to do with the fuel situation here in Portland. Just we’ve run a lot today. We really only had one run. Just wanted to make it count.
Yeah, that was kind of the plan.
Q. We had the announcement about Malukas. Santino, when we know what you’ve accomplished, how this program has grown together, the ability to not get demoralized, down, continue to rally when you’re facing an unknown situation for next year…
SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think it’s been a very interesting two years. I think me and Larry have worked really well together. That news is honestly a huge steppingstone for the team. There’s a lot behind for that. Obviously for me it’s a bit of an unknown.
Things like today help. The Indy results that we’ve had during the 500 help. Being 10th in the championship helps. We’ve really brought it together.
Regardless of news, I never really found it demoralizing if that makes sense just because of how much we’ve been able to accomplish in the last two years. I don’t see it as a negative. I see it as a massive positive for something like that to come along.
Yeah, no, it’s exciting for the future. I can’t wait to see what unfolds.
Q. Larry, any thoughts other than that?
LARRY FOYT: Yeah, this whole season is a big tribute to a lot of what Santino brings to the table. Fighting for us to get top 10 in the championship, first time in two decades that this late in the season we’re fighting for that. That’s a big testament to a lot that he’s done.
We have a great relationship. I’m sure things will work out the way they should.
Q. Santino, in the Fast Six, you had last year’s polesitter Graham Rahal, Alex Palou, Will Power. Does that make what you accomplished today, taking pole, any more satisfying?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: To be honest, when we made it into the Fast Six, I was like, Who’s in it?
They said, Will.
I was like, Oh, damn.
It’s so hard to compete against everybody here. Everybody’s so talented. On any given day as a driver, as an athlete, if you get everything right, it’s a chance and an opportunity to excel. We had the car. Today was the day for me in qualifying to nail the lap, to get it right, especially when it counts.
Honestly the Fast 12 was more pressure than the Fast Six just because it’s so hard. I mean, you’re going against so many more people. Once you’re in the Fast Six, the math in my head was you’re in the Fast Five. Once you’re in the Fast Five, it’s only two more spots to third. If you nail your lap, it’s front row.
To take the pole, I didn’t really think about it (laughter).
Q. Were folks communicating to your ear with 30 seconds to go that you were on top or did you not know you had pole or were sitting on the fastest time until the session was over with?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: I knew I was first starting the final lap, when I came onto the frontstretch just because we have telem in the car and stuff like that. I knew I was good. With one more lap to go, it’s whoever does the last lap normally gets the pole.
I just kind of put my head down. I felt like the car was in a perfect position. I just drove as hard as I could. When I got on the back straight out of seven, that’s when I keyed up the radio ’cause they have more telemetry than anybody else. I was asking them if I’m going to make it. Knew we were quick. I knew it was a hell of a lap. I just didn’t know how good.
At the line, we kind of knew. We were just waiting for Palou. Yeah, once we came down pit road, we had it.
Q. What is it like when you look down with a lap to go and you’re sitting on top? Was it surprising? How do you keep your emotions in check?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: Kind of made me hungry, I’m not going to lie. When you see it there and you know you got more lap time that you can wring out of the car and yourself as a driver, I saw that. I saw I was already negative on the dash. I just wanted to push as hard as I could to see what I could actually do without the threat of what’s the worst that’s going to happen. You’re still going to end up in the Fast Six. At that point there’s no pressure to not push. That’s kind of where I was at mentally.
Q. Larry, there’s been a lot of attention on the Penske deal. A lot of people you brought into the team over the past few years. Might you want to talk about those people and reaction to all this happening, the importance of some of the hires you made.
LARRY FOYT: Well, for sure. I mean, we’ve been fortunate to bring in some really great people that have helped all the way from Michael Cannon to a lot of the other engineers, Adam, James. The whole stand. C.J., has been here a long time. A lot of people have stuck with us through the hard times, and as well a lot of new people have come in and been a great addition.
It’s just a great group that are working hard together. Definitely the Penske alliance has been great. They’re a great company to work with. We go back so far. AJ and Roger go way back. Obviously Tim Cindric. Working with him and Ron has been great. I’ve learned a lot. Certainly has been a benefit to help us get to where we’re headed.
No, can’t say enough about everyone on the team. That alliance has been very helpful, as well.
Q. Santino, is this your first pole since British F3 in 2014?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think this is my first one in a minute. At least that I can remember (smiling). It will be nice to lead the field to green, to have no one in front of us.
I’ve been off pole a couple of times. But yeah, it’s definitely fun.
Q. Will was saying you two could strategize for tomorrow. Does it help to have someone who is sort of a teammate to you alongside you?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: It’s definitely going to make it interesting. At the end of the day we are kind of our own team. We’re fighting our own championship. The championship doesn’t really matter as much to me as getting a win. That’s kind of my goal.
If we can help out some of our Penske alliance friends, to help Will with the championship in any way with how we do things, then yeah, we’re obviously going to. It’s what teammates do, how things kind of work.
By no means am I going to start and pull over and let him take the lead into one.
Q. Can you assess the rise that you and the team have had over the last 12 months?
SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, yeah, it’s been a huge help. There’s so much more that goes into it between just the alliance and working with everybody. Our engineering staff is unreal. We have some really overqualified guys here. They’ve worked together so well.
It’s one of those things to where it’s kind of created a perfect storm for us to where everybody has just gelled seamlessly. The car, we found good setups throughout the year. We found a lot of speed at a lot of different tracks, a lot of different disciplines. We were good at Laguna, Barber. We were average at Road America.
Coming into Portland with the last road course, I knew if we put everything together correctly… Everyone working with Chevrolet and some of the other things that we get as being a Chevy team really prepped us well for this event and it shows.
This is definitely a glimpse into the future for the team, I believe.
THE MODERATOR: As we wrap up qualifying, we’re joined now by Will Power. His fourth front row start of 2024.
You were the first one to congratulate Santino. You knew what this kind of moment meant for him, right?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I’m good friends with Santino. We go-kart together, go to dinner, so on. I was upset that I didn’t get pole, I really wanted it here, I wanted it badly. I was kind of a little bit upset.
Couldn’t be happier for Santino. He’s driving extremely well. And Foyt, it’s a great partnership for those guys. It’s good stuff, man. Good stuff. A fiercely competitive field. As you’ve seen, you never know who is going to get pole, you never know who will be the top six, you never know who is going to win the race.
THE MODERATOR: Obviously a Chevy sweep on the front row. Points championship still very much alive. Starting second, a nice boost heading into tomorrow’s race.
WILL POWER: Yeah, very nice to be on the front row. Of course, you have Palou right there. I can certainly be aggressive with him because he has a lot more to lose than me. Just got to keep finishing ahead of him. I’ll drive like Verstappen. Give him a little bit of pressure (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for Will.
Q. Looking at the championship, do you still see it as a realistic opportunity for you?
WILL POWER: Yeah, man, still very, very possible. Very possible. It’s almost a little less than a quarter of the races to go, four races. A lot of points, a lot of stuff can happen.
I would have to say if he finishes ahead of me tomorrow, starts to look very, very tough. We have to have a good day, at least finish ahead of him, see where we come out in points there. Then doubleheader at Milwaukee, a lot on offer. Our goal is to get as close as we can to him by Nashville.
Q. After all that happened last week, have you cleared that up with the team? Is that sorted going into the rest of the season?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, whatever. I’m over that stuff real quick. Just one of those things that was unfortunate. We had a very good car and a very good night.
Yeah, moved on very quickly, focusing on this event to get the best possible result. See what we can do tomorrow.
Q. How do you see Santino as a prospect, and Foyt as well? They have the potential to start taking points away from you. At the same time they’ve also got the potential to finish ahead some of your rivals as well. How do you see all that playing out?
WILL POWER: Well, yeah, they could be a great asset to us, taking points from Palou. Obviously, yes, they can take points from us, but that’s just the name of the game. They got a good driver in Santino, obviously a good car with the partnership we have.
Yeah, like I said before, I couldn’t be happier for Santino to get a pole. He works hard, deserves it.
Q. Looking at the final stretch of races with the three oval races to come, you have to feel a little bit more confident than Alex considering Alex hasn’t had an oval victory.
WILL POWER: Yeah, based on our oval form this year, we should be more confident than he is. You never know in this series, though. I think Dixon is very strong at Nashville. Milwaukee, we haven’t been there, so we don’t know.
Ultimately we have to finish ahead of him every weekend. It’s the only way. Anything can happen in this series. Look at last week. I mean, I led so many laps, had the quickest car, and I finished 18th just because of a restart. Same with Toronto the race before. I was running the top four or five, had an incident, gave myself a drive-through.
A lot can go down and change quickly. We’ll see how this plays out.
Q. Looking at the race tomorrow, a lot of the other championship contenders are caught in the awkward midfield area, which is not a place to be at Portland.
WILL POWER: Yeah, definitely a tough place to be at the start of the race, no question. We’ll see, yeah. Can even be tough where I am honestly. Really you want to be a leader. That’s why I was mad after I didn’t get pole. Man, I need that, get a jump in front of the whole field, take off.
Yeah, but they have the lead to go early which strings it out more than it used to, so that will help. Yeah, we’ll see what happens.
Q. Do you feel this weekend can erase what happened last weekend? How confident are you to catch some important championship points tomorrow?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it certainly can erase last weekend with a race win. That would help tremendously. I know Palou is a very tough customer. He doesn’t make mistakes. He’s very good in the race. We’ve got our work cut out for us to finish ahead of him because it’s almost essential that we do.
We’ll work on our car in warm-up and try to get the best possible race car that we have, yeah, see where we stand.
Q. How important is it to start in the first row for tomorrow? How do you feel about that?
WILL POWER: I think the only guy that feels completely safe is P1. Even starting on the outside of the front row can be a little tough at times because the inside row goes, if you can’t block out third place.
Yeah, we’ll see. Anything can happen. Can’t really plan on it. Just the key is to get through that first turn in a reasonable position.
Q. Do you feel you could be P1 after the second session?
WILL POWER: Yeah, like in the Fast Six, could I have been P1? Is that what you mean?
Q. Yes.
WILL POWER: Yeah, I made a mistake. The lap he did was really good. He did a really good lap. It was going to be tough to beat that.
But I actually lost like a 10th and a half on the 10 and 12 curb when I made a little mistake there. It was doable, but man, he put a bloody good lap together. It’s impressive.
Q. You said you can talk with Santino about the start, and also you can be more aggressive than Alex can be. What can you and Santino work together on ahead of the start? What kind of plan can you put in place? When you say you can be more aggressive, what does that mean?
WILL POWER: Well, we can take more risk with strategy. I mean, I race as clean and fairly as possible. Never want to win a championship in a way where you’ve taken someone out. Of course not. But I can race him a little harder because it’s not just me that he’s racing. If we both went out, it would be bad because there’s a lot of people coming as well around my points.
Yeah, yeah, my goal is I just got to stay ahead of the guy. I have to finish ahead of him, it’s as simple as that. It’s the only way I’m going to have a shot at the championship.
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